Top award is icing on cake for Ilkley businesswoman after change of career

A DESIGNER who swapped bed linen for a career in cakes has won a top national award.
Dominique Pickering with one her wedding cakes at her shop Poppy Pickering, IlkleyDominique Pickering with one her wedding cakes at her shop Poppy Pickering, Ilkley
Dominique Pickering with one her wedding cakes at her shop Poppy Pickering, Ilkley

Dominique Pickering was named the 2016 National Wedding Cake Designer and Maker of the Year at a glitzy Wedding Industry Awards ceremony at the Cafe de Paris in London.

Mrs Pickering, who runs the Poppy Pickering Cakes and Chocolates boutique shop on Leeds Road, Ilkley, has only been designing and making cakes for two-and-a-half-years.

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She previously worked as a design manager for linen and towel manufacturer Christy, but decided to retrain after leaving her previous job when daughters Ella, six, and Phoebe, four, arrived.

Mrs Pickering, of Burley in Wharfedale, said: “I used to love designing textiles with flowers on and now it’s just a case of designing beautiful wedding cakes and making sugar flowers.

“I missed being creative after I left my previous role. I had always loved baking and I thought I would combine being creative with making cakes and become a cake designer.”

She was named the North-East region’s Wedding Cake Designer of the Year award last November and won through to national finals where she faced competition from six other regional finalists. Judging criteria included comments from brides on wedding cakes and taste tests.

She said: “I was really pleased, I wasn’t expecting to win because I was up against some really talented cake designers. It was a really nice surprise.”

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